


Try a Little Tenderness

by justheretobreakthings



Series: Voltron Bingo [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 06:22:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16112657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justheretobreakthings/pseuds/justheretobreakthings
Summary: After Hunk tells one ‘Galra Keith’ joke too many, he and Keith find themselves having a heart-to-heart.





	Try a Little Tenderness

With all the planning and missions that had been going on lately, de-stressing with cooking seemed like the perfect way to spend the evening, and Hunk had been wanting to try his new idea for an alien-equivalent of pizza rolls for ages now. Pidge and Lance had, of course, been more than eager to be taste-testers, and he’d managed to talk Keith into joining them as well.

Ever since their mission to the weblum, Hunk had been wanting to find an excuse to try to spend a little time with Keith, maybe get to know him a little better, and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. Shiro was busy cooped up in a meeting with Allura and Coran, and Keith had already done enough training today to guarantee he’d be sore in the morning, so he had nothing better to do and no good reason to not join in.

Lance started devouring the pizza rolls like his life depended on it the moment Hunk had set the tray down. “Hunk,” he said through the roll in his mouth, “This may be your best space recipe yet.”

“You say that every time I make a new recipe,” Hunk pointed out.

“Yeah, but I guess all those other times I was lying,” Lance replied. “This time I mean it for absolute certain.”

“What did you use to get this garlic-y flavor?” Pidge asked.

“One of the herbs we got from Davdabhau,” Hunk answered. “You like it?”

“It’s actually a little bit strong.”

“What?!” Lance gasped. “You’re insane! This is the absolute perfect blend of all pizza-related flavors.”

“Hey, Hunk said he likes constructive criticism,” Pidge said with a shrug.

“You’re Italian! I thought Italians loved garlic!”

“No, we have extra-refined tastes for garlic, and we know when the amount needs to be adjusted.”

“And all Italians have this?”

“This Italian does.”

“Keith,” Hunk said, cutting into their argument. “What do you think of the pizza rolls?”

“I like them,” Keith answered, chewing idly on his roll.

“Anything you think should be altered?”

“Nah.”

“What do you like best?”

“I dunno.”

“You can’t count on Keith for insightful food critiquing, Hunk,” Lance said. “He likes every food equally. He eats  _Coran’s_  cooking, for shit’s sake.”

Keith just shrugged. “It’s not that bad.”

“We need to figure out a way to refine your palate, Keith,” said Pidge.

“Well, to be fair, we’ve seen the sort of food the Galra serve at the space mall,” Hunk said, casting Keith a slight grin. “Maybe you evolved a taste for everything remotely edible as a survival tool in order to make it through meals?”

Lance and Pidge both chuckled, but Keith didn’t so much as smile in return. On the contrary, his brow arched into a frown as he continued eating his pizza roll in silence.

“So, speaking of the space mall,” Lance said, “Pidge, you found a way to hook up that game system, right?”

Pidge grinned. “Yep! All set to go if you’re ready. I’ve got two controllers and the game’s got a two-person duel mode, so if you wanna get your ass kicked – ”

“My dear, sweet Pidge, you seem to be confused about which one of us is going to be doing the ass-kicking.”

“I call winner,” Hunk said. “Keith, you in?”

“I, uh, I dunno,” Keith answered. “I’ve never really played many video games.”

“Well, that’s all the more reason to try it now! Besides, you’ve gotta be a natural, right? Galra reflexes on a video game controller, that’d be unstoppable.”

Keith frowned and lowered his head. “Hunk, could you cool it with the – ”

“Ooh, you know, I just thought of something!” Lance piped up. “Remember a while ago when you said that thing during training about Keith having cat-like reflexes?”

“Yeah?” Hunk said.

“Well…”

Hunk’s eyes widened in delight. “Oh my God, and Galra are basically cats!”

“They’re not – ” Keith started.

“They’ve got the reflexes and the flexibility and a bunch of them even have fur and tails! Galra Keith is a cat!”

Keith shoved his chair back and stood up, picking his plate up off the table. “I’m gonna wash up,” he mumbled, turning and making for the sink.

“Aw, don’t get grumpy on us, Keith,” Pidge said. “Being a cat’s a good thing. You’d be being worshipped if this were ancient Egypt.”

“Could we just change the subject?” Keith asked as he reached the sink and turned the faucet on.

“If the new subject is how you’re kinda being a grouch,” Lance said, turning around in his chair.

“Hey, Lance, cut him some slack,” Hunk said. “Probably just missed his nap.”

Keith huffed out a breath and began scrubbing at his plate. “Hunk – ”

“Can Galra sleep sixteen hours a day like cats do? Because I wanna see that.”

“You’ve seen how early Keith gets up,” Pidge said. “He sleeps, like, four hours per night, max.”

“Well, no wonder he’s not feeling so great!”

“Guys,” Keith said through gritted teeth. “Seriously.”

“It’s just something we’re gonna have to keep in mind,” Hunk said. “The Care and Keeping of Your Galra Friend.”

“Hunk, stop it.”

“Maybe you’ll grow into your Galra side soon, get some purple fluff growing behind your ears, start purring – ”

Any laughter and lightheartedness was cut off by a loud crashing sound and Keith slammed his plate into the bottom of the sink, shattering it into pieces. The others froze.

“Hunk!” he shouted, whipping around to face him with a snarl, eyes furious and cheeks burning red. “Shut up! Just shut! The fuck!  _Up!”_

Hunk’s jaw dropped, and he stood frozen in place as Keith glowered at him, the latter’s shoulders moving with his heaving breaths, red-faced, vein in his forehead ready to pop, before he turned on his heel and stomped out of the room.

Pidge and Lance hadn’t moved an inch either, with Pidge caught frozen with her mouth open and a pizza roll halfway to her mouth, Lance simply staring at the spot where Keith had stood just a moment ago. Lance was the first to shake himself out of the stunned silence. “What the fuck? What the  _fuck_  was that?!”

“I – I don’t – I don’t know,” Hunk stammered. “Did I – did I do something wrong?”

“No,” Lance said. “No, you were just kidding around, you did nothing wrong. Don’t know what made Keith go ballistic like that.”

“He’s never been that angry at me…” Hunk said slowly. He had seen Keith blow up like that a couple of times in the past – that day early on in his Garrison career when Keith had punched James in the face for complaining about Keith getting them all punished sprang to mind – but this was the first time it had been directed toward  _him_. And damn, Keith was scary when he was that mad. Just thinking about his face made Hunk start to feel queasy.

Lance rose from his seat and approached Hunk, wrapping his arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Hey, you okay, man? I think you’re starting to shake a little.”

“Is he having an anxiety attack?” Pidge asked, voice laced with concern. “Hunk, do you need to sit down?”

“No, no, I’m – I’m okay,” Hunk said, admittedly a little feebly.

“You sure?” Lance asked. Hunk nodded and Lance turned to glare toward the entrance to the kitchen. “All right, I’m gonna go get Keith.”

“What? Why?”

“To drag his sorry little hotheaded ass back in here and demand that he give you an apology,” Lance answered. “Seriously, what the fuck?  _Nobody_  yells at my best friend. I don’t know what the hell his deal is, but – ”

“No, wait, Lance,” Hunk interrupted. “You don’t have to do that.”

Pidge nodded. “Yeah, he’ll probably just start screaming at you too. Wait until he’s cooled down a bit.”

Lance crossed his arms. “If he screams at me, I’ll just scream back. It’s been a long time coming anyhow.”

“Lance, really, don’t,” Hunk said. “Don’t get involved, I don’t wanna make this worse – whatever ‘this’ is.”

“But – ” Lance began, but one glance at Hunk’s sincere and worried expression stopped him in his tracks, and he sighed. “Fine. But you can’t just let him slide, not on that. You gotta make him apologize, all right? Stand up for yourself.”

Hunk nodded slowly. “Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”

“Good.” Lance sank back into his seat. “If you’re not gonna go now, you gonna finish up your pizza rolls? Go to all the trouble to make them, you might as well get to enjoy them.”

“Yeah,” Hunk said, taking his seat as well.

He brought a pizza roll to his mouth and took a bite, but the taste seemed oddly numbed. Maybe he had just lost his appetite. Keith blowing up at him the way he had, it had left Hunk’s stomach roiling, unsettled. As he ate he kept glancing back toward the kitchen entrance where Keith had left.

It only took a few minutes for him to shove his plate away and stand up. “So, uh, Keith’s probably cooled down by now, right? I should probably go talk to him.”

“You sure?” Pidge asked with a frown. “It hasn’t really been that long.”

“Well, if Mullet’s still in a mood, guess he’s just gonna have to get over it,” Lance said through a mouthful of pizza roll. “Hunk deserves his apology. You go get it, buddy. Want me to come along?”

Hunk shook his head. “No, I’ll talk to him myself.”

“Okay, if you’re sure. But you  _make_  him say sorry, okay?”

“And if he doesn’t?” Pidge asked.

“He’d better, or I’m throwing down.”

“Don’t, Lance,” Hunk sighed.

“I’m kidding,” Lance said. “But seriously, don’t you leave until you get an apology.”

“I won’t,” Hunk replied. He started making his way across the kitchen to leave.

“And, hey!” Lance called to his retreating back. “Remember, you’re bigger and stronger than him. If he tries to throw a punch, you throw one back, okay?” Hunk gave him a thumbs-up as he turned the corner at the kitchen’s entrance and set off down the hall.

With every step he took, dread grew heavier in the pit of his stomach. It was ridiculous, surely; he had no reason to be scared. It was  _Keith_ , for God’s sake. A fellow paladin. None of them would ever actually  _hurt_  each other. And like Lance said, even if he tried, Hunk could take him. Heck, the worst Keith could or would do was yell at him some more.

Somehow, Hunk thought that sounded worse than Keith trying to fight him. Mostly because he would rather not see that furious look on Keith’s face directed toward him ever again.

Maybe he should have let Lance come along.

He shook his head. No, no, best not make this into a big deal. Just get the apology, then move on as if this had never happened.

As he approached Keith’s room he planned out in his head what he was going to say, and he did a couple of extra laps through the halls to give himself time to perfect it before finally, taking a deep breathy to ready himself, he knocked on Keith’s door.

“What?” a voice snapped from inside the room.

The dread in the pit of Hunk’s stomach darkened, but he took a deep breath and held his ground. He had to stand up for himself, stay firm. Demand an apology and refuse to leave until he got one. “It’s me, Hunk.”

“Go away.”

“No, Keith, not until you and I have a talk.” He meant for it to sound authoritative and confident, but the best he could manage was ‘not shaky’. Oh well. He didn’t think he would have been able to keep that up for very long.

There was silence for nearly half a dobosh, and then, just as Hunk was readying himself to knock again, the door slid halfway open and Keith stepped out, keeping one hand on the door frame, his head dropped low so that his bangs covered his eyes, although they didn’t hide the clearly gritted teeth that he spoke through. “What do you want?” he growled.

Hunk gulped, then took another deep breath and steeled himself. “Keith,” he said, working to keep his voice steady as he recited what he’d practiced in his head for the past ten minutes. “Your behavior toward me earlier was uncalled for and – and unkind. I believe I deserve an apology.”

A tick of silence, then Keith slowly lifted his head to look at Hunk, and his face honestly took Hunk by surprise. By the way Keith had been snarling at him before, he had expected to be met with another fiery Keith glare. But instead, Keith looked… confused? Worried? Cautious, maybe?

And as he tried to gauge Keith’s expression, other details popped out. Why in the world were Keith’s eyes so pink? And why did his face seem flushed? And was there something on his cheeks or – ?

“I’m sorry,” Keith said, stiffly and quietly, and he turned back into his room, the door shutting behind him.

Hunk stood where he was, staring at the closed door, stunned. He’d gotten the apology he’d come looking for, but it had come too quick, and he wasn’t sure it sounded sincere. In fact, he wasn’t sure about  _anything_  regarding Keith at this particular moment. He had never seen Keith look like that before. With the pale face and bloodshot eyes, it was almost as if…

Had – had Keith been  _crying?_

The thought seemed absurd. Keith didn’t cry. Keith was the hard and stony warrior, the guy who could swordfight with a training bot for hours on end, the guy who runs into the heat of battle like it’s the easiest thing in the world, the guy who loses his temper at the most unexpected moments and gets in fistfights and always looks like he’s ready to punch the world.

Keith didn’t cry. Keith  _doesn’t_  cry.

And yet…

Hunk knocked again, and shuffling footsteps approached and reopened the door. Keith’s head was hung low again, but it’s not like that could make Hunk unsee the state of his face he’d glimpsed only moments ago.

“Look, I apologized, okay?” he mumbled. “I’m sorry. I – I really am. Now could you leave me alone?”

“Keith, are – are you okay?” Hunk asked.

“I’m fine,” Keith grunted, stepping back and making to shut the door again.

Hunk stuck his foot out and caught it, surprising Keith into looking up again. “No, you’re – seriously, Keith, is something wrong?”

“No.”

“Was it something I did?”

Keith didn’t answer. For a long moment he stood silently, just staring at Hunk with those frighteningly pink eyes. Then he turned around and went back into his room, sitting heavily down onto his bed and grabbing his pillow to hold to his chest. Hunk hesitated at the doorway. Keith hadn’t invited him in, but he hadn’t closed the door either, so Hunk decided to chance it and cautiously stepped into Keith’s room, relieved when Keith made no move to stop him or tell him not to.

He glanced around the room, frowning. He had been in Lance’s and Pidge’s rooms on the castle ship plenty of times before, but this was his first time in Keith’s. And it was, well, not what he had expected. Hunk had filled his own room enough to make it more homey – a couple of decorations from the castle’s storage, mementos from their various Voltron adventures, half-finished projects and materials scattered about the room. Lance and Pidge had done the same, Lance neatly and with a keen eye for aesthetic and Pidge letting the place look like a tornado had just swept through it.

Hunk had never really thought about what Keith’s room might look like. The few times he had idly considered, he for some reason had half-expected it to look like that shack of his out in the desert near the Garrison. Maps and photographs on the walls, mismatched furnishings, old tech stacked up in the corner.

Instead, the place was bare. It looked exactly like everyone’s rooms had looked when they first arrived at the castle. The only signs that anyone had even been inside the room at any point were Keith’s jacket lying draped across the foot of his bed, the boots lying on the floor beside it, and the fact that the bedcover was rumpled from use. Other than that, nothing. No decorations, no personal touches, no mementos, just an empty room.

Keith had sat himself at the head of the bed, knees up, face half-hidden from how it was stuffed against his pillow. There was really no place other than the bed to sit, so Hunk gestured toward it uncertainly. “Uh, do you mind if I…?”

Keith grunted, and Hunk was pretty sure it was a grunt in the affirmative, so he settled himself onto the foot of the bed, moving Keith’s jacket back so he wouldn’t sit on it.

“So, uh…” Hunk said slowly. “What’s up?”

Keith didn’t answer. All he did in response was draw his knees in even closer to himself.

“Hey, uh, look, about – about earlier. Was it – was it the jokes? The jokes about you being, uh, Galra and all. Is that why you were, uh…?” He gestured uncertainly toward the part of Keith’s face that was visible.

Keith was quiet for a long moment before he answered, in a crackling voice, “I’m not ready to joke about it. Back at… back when we were, um, on that mission, to the weblum, you were – and I – I just – ”

“Keith?” Hunk said, noticing with dismay how Keith’s voice was gradually beginning to rise in pitch.

“Forget it,” Keith grunted. “It’s stupid.”

Hunk worried his teeth uncertainly at his bottom lip before cautiously saying, “Keith, if you weren’t okay with making jokes about it, you could have said something.”

“What would that have done?”

“What do you – that would’ve let me know you didn’t like the jokes, for one thing. And I would’ve stopped.”

“You didn’t stop.”

“Well, I – ” He paused. Keith was right. He  _had_  asked Hunk to stop. He hadn’t sat them down and explained point-by-point that he didn’t want them to make jokes, but he had said to drop it, and he’d asked to change the subject, and Hunk had barreled right past him. “God, Keith,” he sighed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t – I know this is a big thing, and all, and I just thought, you know, if we could make light of it, if it was something we could laugh about, maybe it wouldn’t seem like such a big deal, you know?” Keith didn’t respond, so Hunk continued. “That’s, uh, that’s usually a good strategy for when, like, Lance is the one dealing with big news. I guess I just sort of assumed it would work fine for you too. I hadn’t thought… I’m sorry.”

“You… you don’t have to apologize,” Keith said softly. He set his pillow aside and simply folded his arms over his chest instead. Without the pillow there, he was able to bring his knees in even closer. “You were right, I overreacted, I – I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

“It’s just, I guess I didn’t realize that you, like, weren’t okay with it? I mean, Lance rags on you all the time and that never bothers you, so I figured – ”

He paused, noticing that Keith had dropped his gaze again and tightened the way he folded his arms across his chest. “Wait a minute, it – does it bother you, when Lance teases you?”

Keith glanced back toward him, his eyes narrowed in a hint of a glower. “What the hell would make you think it doesn’t?”

“Well, I mean, it’s just ribbing, isn’t it? Like, friends tease each other. I do it with Lance and Pidge all the time. And I thought you and Lance had that whole, like, rivalry thing going on, which – ”

“I’m not his rival,” Keith cut him off. He brought his hands up to his head to rub at his temples. “I don’t – I’m not. I don’t know where Lance got that idea, or how, but it’s not – I never wanted to be ‘rivals’ with  _anyone_. I just – I just wanted to pilot. Honest, I never – I mean, I’ve been wracking my brains trying to figure out what I did to make Lance hate me so much, but I just don’t know.”

“Keith, Lance doesn’t hate you,” Hunk said.

Keith snorted. “Oh, you mean like how Allura doesn’t hate me?”

“Keith – ”

“Don’t even try to tell me she doesn’t, Hunk,” Keith said. “You’ve seen how she looks at me now. I – God, Hunk, I know hatred when I see it. I’ve gotten it plenty of times before. She hates me. Things are – things are different now. With all of you.” He brought his knees up toward him and rested his chin on top of them before he closed his eyes and took a long, shaky breath, and when he opened them again, they were shimmering and dewy. “It’s not like I asked to be Galra. It’s not like I have any control over it. So I don’t – I don’t get why – I just – ” Another shuddering breath, then he buried his head in his knees so that his entire face was hidden.

Hunk wasn’t quite sure what to do. He decided to try putting his hand on Keith’s back, just as a gesture of comfort, but Keith’s spine stiffened when he tried, so he immediately pulled his hand away, swallowing nervously as he stared at the silently shaking figure of Keith.

There it was, right before his eyes, indisputable: Keith – short-tempered, tough-as-nails, hot-and-fiery Keith – was crying.

He was definitely the quietest crier Hunk had ever seen. Lance would constantly sniffle when he cried, and Pidge would let out little grunts and hiccups, and Hunk himself was something of a bawler. Keith, though, didn’t make the slightest sound. If it had been dark in the room and Hunk wasn’t sitting on the same bed as Keith and thus feeling him trembling, he barely would have even known Keith was crying at all. He hid it well.

Hunk wondered at that moment whether that was how Keith naturally cried, or if it was something he had learned. If it was something he’d  _had_  to learn. He really did not want to think about the latter possibility.

So, instead, he tried to just keep talking, keep their minds occupied by something, anything, other than Allura and her views of the Galra. “Well, I can at least promise you that it isn’t like that with Lance. I’m sure he doesn’t mean anything bad with it, they’re just – ”

“He calls me ‘dropout’,” Keith said softly. His voice was shaky, and he took a deep breath to steady it a bit before he continued, “And a hothead. And they definitely don’t sound like jokes.”

“Well, okay, but – ”

“Do you think Lance would just be perfectly fine with it if I started calling him ‘cargo pilot’?”

Hunk frowned. “Keith, that’s – that’s different. He’s put a lot of work into his flying to move past that title, and you know how sensitive he is about – ” He paused, and slowly his brows moved upward in realization. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“So you – ”

“What, you didn’t think I know I’ve got a temper?” Keith snapped, finally turning to face him again. “You don’t think I’ve tried to work on it? To fix it? Because I  _have_ , Hunk.” He took a long, slow breath. “You know how people really don’t like me when I get mad? Well, take my word for it: I like me even less. And the ‘dropout’ bit? I didn’t even drop out, I was – I – I didn’t want to leave the Garrison. I hate that it happened. I mean, it was – it was all I had left.”

“What do you mean, all you had left?”

“I mean, do you think I was living by myself in the desert because I enjoyed the scenery?”

“I, uh,” Hunk replied slowly, “I guess I hadn’t really thought about the ‘why’.”

“Well, now you know,” Keith muttered. “I was in a shack in the desert because that’s all there was for me. Shiro was gone, my future at the Garrison was gone, I didn’t have a – ”

He paused again, froze in place, and his eyes seemed to glaze over before he continued, “I didn’t have a family to go home to. Fuck.” He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes and took another handful of shuddering breaths. “All my life I’ve wanted to know my mom, and learn about my family, and now I finally know and – and I just want to take it back. I want to un-learn it.”

“Keith – ”

“This is why, isn’t it?” Keith interrupted him. “This whole Galra thing, that’s – that’s the reason I’m – like this.”

“Like what?”

“Like this. Like, I – I’m angry. All the time, I’m angry, and I want – I want to just – I’m always right on the verge of blowing up, and that’s gotta be the Galra side. And I know I’m bad with people, I’m  _awful_  with people, I say the wrong things and I never know what to do and, fuck, all this time, it’s because I just  _wasn’t_ one of them.” He sniffed and wiped an arm hastily across his nose. “You think people suspected it?” he asked quietly. “It would make sense. Why no kid wanted to be friends with me, no foster family wanted to keep me – they must have realized something was wrong with me, just didn’t know what.”

Hunk stared at Keith, aghast. The latter hadn’t glanced his way in a while, and had a faraway look in his eye, as if he weren’t entirely there in that conversation right now. Keith was start to talk much more and faster than he usually did, and Hunk was starting to wonder if Keith was even aware of how much he saying. It was like some sort of floodgate had been opened, and it was frightening what it had been holding back.

Keith shouldn’t be spilling all this to Hunk now. He should be talking about this to someone who knew him better, to Shiro, or – or –

He couldn’t think of anyone else. And weren’t the paladins supposed to be close? Weren’t the paladins of Voltron supposed to be able to share stuff like this with each other? This shouldn’t have been the very first time Hunk had heard about Keith’s insecurities, or the fact that he’d been in foster care, or the reason Keith had lived alone in the desert. Keith should have told them.

… No, that wasn’t quite right. They should have asked.

 _He_  should have asked.

“I – I know you told me I don’t have to apologize to you,” Hunk said. “But I’m going to anyway. I’m sorry.” Keith opened his mouth, but Hunk cut across him before he could interrupt. “No, listen. I’m sorry about the Galra jokes, yeah, but – but I’m also sorry that you’re – that you – that you were feeling this way, or – or thinking like this. Because you shouldn’t have to, and you should’ve been able to come to your team with, like, all of this stuff, and… and we should’ve made that clear.

“But Keith?” Keith raised a brow slightly, an invitation to go on. “There’s nothing wrong with you. I mean it.”

“Hunk – ”

“Yeah, you get mad sometimes, but that’s no different from me getting anxious sometimes, you know? Maybe you yelling is your equivalent to me throwing up. Things just get to be too much and you gotta let it out, and it isn’t pretty and maybe there’s a mess after, but – but it’s nothing that can’t be cleaned up, right?”

Keith dropped his gaze away from Hunk’s imploring stare, and Hunk went on. “And if you’re not good with people, well, so what? People are confusing as heck, man. And it’s not like you aren’t trying. In the weblum, you know, you were good with  _me._  And I’m people, so that counts. You really helped me keep my head and feel okay and you even made me laugh. Like, you honest-to-God made a joke.

“And – and – and if those foster families didn’t want you, then it’s because they don’t know a good thing when they see it, and you’re too good for people like that anyway.”

“I’m not – ”

“Yeah, you are. You’re a good person, Keith, and… being Galra doesn’t change that. I’m sorry I called you ‘Galra Keith’. You’re not ‘Galra Keith’. And you’re not ‘Human Keith’. You’re just ‘Keith’. And – and that’s a good thing to be.”

Keith was silent for a while longer, then slowly turned to blink warily up at Hunk. “So how long do you think it’ll take to convince Allura of that? Or all the people on all the galaxies who are certain that all Galra are scum?”

Hunk hesitated. “I… don’t know. But they’ll have to. Eventually, they’ll have to. You don’t deserve anything less.”

Keith let out a breath through his nose and dropped his head onto his knees, letting his eyes drift shut. There were still water droplets on his eyelashes, and even as Hunk watched, there remained tears yet to make their ways down his face, no matter how furiously Keith tried to squeeze his eyes shut, rein them in.

“Hey, Keith?” Hunk said tentatively. “Would it be all right if I hugged you?”

Keith opened his eyes. “Why?” he asked, furrowing his brow.

“Well, because you kinda seem like you need it? And because I want to? And before, you kinda tensed when I put my hand on you, so I, uh, just wanna make sure it’s okay?”

Keith stared at Hunk, and for a moment Hunk was certain that he was going to say no, but then, expression unchanged, he nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d – that’d be okay.”

So Hunk pulled him in, gently as he could, wrapping his arms around Keith’s back and letting him nestle his face into his shoulder, letting Keith silently shake in his hold as Hunk’s sleeve gradually grew damp, and Hunk didn’t mind one bit.

* * *

They were one day from setting their plan into motion when Allura gathered them in the bridge to give them a final run-through of the strategy. Agents from the Blade of Marmora would be joining them tomorrow, the Olkari were ready for action, Slav had all of his work finalized. The only thing they had left to do was wait for the go-ahead.

Allura ran through the plan again for them, for what felt like the billionth time, but each paladin listened attentively, nodding along. Hunk noticed that Keith was standing back farther from the rest of the group while they talked, arms crossed firmly over his chest and never making a sound, but he didn’t comment on it. He simply listened as Allura finished the briefing and moved on to the pep talk.

She clasped her hands together. “Paladins, I don’t believe I’m exaggerating when I say that everything we’ve done as Team Voltron thus far has been leading up to this. When you first came together as a team, I scarcely would have believed what you have proven yourselves to be capable of, but you have all shown so much growth, and have given me so much reason to put my faith in you for a mission of this caliber.”

Beaming broadly, she turned to each of the paladins in turn. “Pidge, you have demonstrated finesse, determination, and intelligence far beyond your years, and there is no one I would trust more than you to helm our technology. Lance, I have had the privilege of getting to watch you mature, to find your strengths and hone your skills and develop into a fine soldier. Hunk, in addition to being a wonderful and comforting presence here in the castle, you have proven yourself to be a firm source of strength and stability for your team. And Shiro, it has been nothing short of an honor to work alongside you. I could not have asked for a greater and more impassioned leader for the new generation of Voltron.

“If all goes according to plan, this may very well end up being our last mission together as a team,” she continued. “I know that I can count on you to give it your all and – ”

“Aren’t you forgetting someone?”

Allura paused, turning to Hunk with round eyes and a furrowed brow, as if unsure whether he had actually spoken. The others, in their turn, had all swiveled their gazes to stare at him too. None of the paladins ever interrupted Allura during a speech like this one, especially not Hunk. And especially not with the grim bitterness that had snuck its way into Hunk’s tone.

“I – excuse me?” Allura said.

Out of the corner of his eye Hunk could see Keith, still standing at a distance from the rest of the group and keeping his arms folded tightly over his chest. His face was pale and he minutely shook his head ‘no’ toward Hunk, but Hunk pressed onward. “There are five paladins here, Allura. I only heard you mention how proud you were of four of them. So, you know.” He nodded toward Keith. “Go ahead. Finish up.”

Allura turned to Keith, whose pale face was slowly turning pink. “Um,” he said, “That’s, uh, that’s – that’s okay, you don’t have to – ”

“Yeah, she does,” Hunk said. “Because we’re all paladins, and we’ve all worked hard and done a good job, and we all deserve to hear it. Right, Allura?”

Allura had gone so stiff she was practically wooden, and Keith looked very much like he would like nothing more in the universe than to melt through the floor and escape the tension right then and there. It was silent for several ticks before Allura flatly said, “Good work, Keith.”

“Thank you, Princess,” Keith mumbled in reply.

Turning away from him again, Allura cleared her throat and launched right back into her speech, just a notch louder than before as if hoping to drown out any other forthcoming interruptions. The others slowly let their focus shift back to the pep talk, although Hunk kept half an eye on the dazed-looking Keith.

When the paladins were dismissed, they started making their way out of the bridge. Keith kept his head down and hurried out, no doubt keen to get away as quickly as he possibly could.

But as he brushed against Hunk’s shoulder on his way out, Hunk heard him practically whisper, “Thanks.”

Hunk stopped mid-pace and Keith kept going. The latter’s head was still down, and he hadn’t broken his stride, and for a moment Hunk wondered whether he had been mistaken in thinking Keith had said anything to him at all, but no, he had distinctly heard it, there was no mistaking it. Even if Keith didn’t want to show it, or want to stop and discuss it, he was grateful.

“You’re welcome, Keith,” Hunk whispered back, and even though Keith was already long out of earshot, Hunk was certain that he’d heard it.


End file.
